26Charles Willemen Buddhisms Maritime Route to China.docx

26Charles Willemen Buddhisms Maritime Route to China.docx

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26CharlesWillemenBuddhismsMaritimeRoutetoChina

Buddhism’sMaritimeRoutetoChina

CharlesWillemen

BelgiumRoyalAcademyofSciences

Abstract:

ImportantculturalroadsforBuddhismanditsMathurāartweretheGanges（sarvāstivāda,mahāsāmghika,pudgalavāda）andtheGodāvarī（overwhelminglymahāsāmghika,butalsomahīśāsaka）.Amarāvatī’sart（secondcentury）andalsoNāgārjunakonda’sart（thirdcentury）,inspirednotonlyAnurādhapura,butsoutheasternAsiaasawhole.ThemaritimeroutewentfromsoutheasternIndiatotheMalayPeninsula.AfteracircumpeninsularnavigationtheroutewenttoFunan,Bnam,insouthernCambodiaandVietnam,extendingalongtheGulfofThailandtoTenasserim,thenorthernpartoftheIsthmusofKra.Thehistoricalperiodofthisareawasthethirdcenturytill627-649,whenZhenlatookover.Buddhismonthisroutewasmahāsāmghika.ImportantwasAvalokiteśvara,NanhaiGuanyin,whomayhavemergedwithMazualongthesouthernChinesecoast.

Keywords:

AndhraFunanNanhaiGuanyinMahāsāmghika

CharlesWillemen:

LifelongmemberBelgianRoyalAcademyofSciences.FullProfessorinBelgiumsince1977.PresentlyViceRector（AcademicResearch）InternationalBuddhistCollege,Thailand.

BuddhismenteredChinamainlythroughCentralAsia,comingfromtheGandhāranculturalarea.ThePrakrit（s）ofthatareaexplain（s）theancientChineseterminology.TheancienttranslationsfromthemiddleofthesecondcenturyA.D.untilabout400A.D.,aremainlybasedonPrakrit（s）.DuringthatperiodaMahāyānamovementwasdevelopinginIndia.ThisistheperiodoftheLotusSūtra,ofdevelopingprajñāpāramitāliterature,ofAmitābha,oftheAvatamsakasūtra,etc..Bactria,anareaofmultipleculturalinfluences,anareafromwheretherewaseasyaccesstoChina,iscentralinthedevelopmentofthesenewkindsofBuddhism.Bactria,forsometimelocatedintheKusānāempire,wasanareaofsthaviras,i.e.ofsarvāstivādins,ofdharmaguptakas,andofpudgalavādins,butalsooftheirrivals,themahāsāmghikas.TheheterogeneousgroupsofsarvāstivādinsintheGandhāranarea,intheBactrianareaandinCentralIndiaareknownassautrāntikasfromthetimeofthesarvāstivādasynodinKaśmīraon（endofthesecondcenturyA.D.）.

FromIndia

FromIndia’seasterncoastshipsleftforsoutheasternAsiaandultimatelyforsoutheasternchina.ThedeltaoftheGangesandtheportofTāmraliptīwereimportant,butAndhra,attheendoftheGodāvarīRiver,wasnolessimportantduringthefirstcenturiesA.D..

DuringthefirstcenturiesA.D.AndhrawasruledbyŚātavāhanas.ThefirstinscriptionsmentioningthemcomefromthecavesofNānāghāñandNāsikinnorthernMahārāstra,andfromSāñcīineasternMālwā.TheŚātavāhanaswerepatronsofPrakrit.PrakritwasusedinAmarāvatīinscriptions（secondcentury）,andalsoinNāgārjunakonda,whichmaybeunderstoodtobeanextensionofAmarāvatīinthethirdcentury.Acapital,Pratisthāna,ontheupperGodāvarī,wasoneoftheŚātavāhanacentersforalongtime,certainlytillthesecondcenturyA.D.,thereignofVāsisthīputraPulumāvi（ca.130-159A.D.）.ThemahācaityaofAmarāvatīwasprobablybuiltunderhisrule.In78A.D.,thefirstyearoftheŚākaera,anincursionledtothecreationoftwonewŚakakingdoms,i.e.thatofthewesternsatraps,Kùaharātas,destroyedin125A.D.,andthatofthegreatsatrapsofUjjayinī,Kārdamakas,whichdisappearedbetween388and409A.D.,conqueredbyCandraguptaII.InChinesetheŚakarulerswerecalledSaiWang,whichliterallymeansŚakaruler.InAndhratheIksvākuscontinuedtheŚātavāhanaruleinthethirdcentury,inNāgārjunakoõóa.Theyruledfromca.225tillca.325.ThegreatstūpaofNāgārjunakonda,theircapital,wascompletedca.246-256.

ThePallavasfollowedasrulersinsoutheasternIndia.Skandhavarman（earlyfourthcentury）wasthefirstgreatruler.ThecapitalwasKāñcīpura.TheyinitiallycontinuedPrakrittradition,buttheychangedtoSanskrit.ThePallavaswerethedominantpowerontheeasterncoastfromca.400toabout750A.D..FromtheestuaryoftheGodāvarītradersandscholarssetsailforsoutheasternAsiaandChina.TheŚākaera（of78A.D.）,whichwasusedinthePallavaregion,wasintroducedtosoutheasternAsia.FromtheestuaryoftheKrsnāRivertradeandculturewereexchangedwithŚrīLańkā.

MahāsāmghikaswereonIndia’swesterncoast,buttheywerethedominantnikāya,school,inAndhra.ThereNāgārjunaorganisedamadhyamakagroupwithinthemahāsāmghikanikāya.HeusedSanskritinamainlyPrakritarea.MadhyamakareachedChinamainlyviaCentralAsiaandKumārajīva.ItwaspropagatedwithlimitedsuccessbyKumārajīva（344-413?

）,whoarrivedinChang’anonFebruary8,403.Hiswork,basedonSanskrit,isthebeginningoftheoldtranslations,jiuyi.InAndhrathemahāsāmghikaswerebyfarthemainnikāyaforcenturies.Theyhadbodhisattvas,butbodhisattvaswhoalsoplayedaroleinsthāvirīyacirclesinnorthwesternIndia.Sautrāntikas,i.e.non-vaibhāsikasarvāstivādins,anddharmaguptakasalsohadbodhisattvas.DharmagptakaswerenotpresentonIndia’ssoutheasterncoast.SautrāntikaswerestronginCentralIndia,alongtheGangesuptoitsdelta.Ifmūlasarvāstivādins（endseventhcentury）reallyareacontinuationofsautrāntika-dārstantikas（endsecondcentury）,onecanunderstandtheirpresenceinsoutheasternAsia,comingfromthedeltaoftheGanges,fromtoday’sBiharandBengal,Orissa.TheschoolsinAndhraweremahāsāmghika,knownascaitikaorśaila,butalsobahuśrutīya.CaitikasareoftenmentionedininscriptionsinAmarāvatī.Theirfinestshrineswereknownasmahācaityas.TherewasamahācaityainDhānyakañaka,identifiedwiththefamousstūpaatAmarāvatī（secondcentury）.TherewasamahācaityaatNāgārjunakonda,etc..ŚailawasatermusedformahāsāmghikaslivinginthemountainsnearDhānyakañaka.Thetermmahāvanaśailaisusedtoo.Inscriptionsdistinguishpūrvaśailas（ontheeasternmountain）ofDhānyakañaka,andaparaśailas（onthewesternmountain）.ThelatteroneswereknowninNāgārjunakondaasaparamahāvinaseliya.Thegreatstūpatherewasdedicatedtothem.Śailaswereonthewesterncoast,inKānheri.AllthismakesitclearthatAndhrawasinclosecontactwiththewesterncoast.CulturetravelledalongtheGodāvarīRivertoo,notonlyalongtheGanges.InNāgārjunakondathereweremahīśāsakastoo.Mahīśāsakaswereknownfortheirmeditationalpractices,dhyāna,acharacteristicofallnorthwesternschools.ThemahīśāsakasinAndhrahadcontinuouscontactwithŚrīLańkā（abhayagiri?

）.

ŚrīLańkāntheravādins（mahāvihāra）wereinNāgārjunakonda.TheartofAmarāvatīandofNāgārjunakondaisalsofoundAnurādhapura.FromthesecondcenturyMathurā’sartwassendingdownimagestothegangeticplains,buttheGodāvarīcarriedtheartofMathurātoAndhra.FromtheretradeandculturewenttoŚrīLańkā.

Aparaśailascertainlyknewimageworship.ThemajordonatrixforthegreatstūpaatNāgārjunakondawastheladyCāmtisiri,arelativeoftherulerCāütamūla.SheiscomparedtoqueenŚrīmālāofthefamousscripturaltextabouttathāgatagarbha,theShengman（Śrīmālā）,Jing,T.XII353,TheLion’sRoarofQueenŚrīmālā.Thistext,clearlymahāyāna,waswritteninamahāsāmghikaenvironment.TheChinesetranslationwasmadein436inJiankang（Nanjing）byGunabhadra（394-468）,nicknamesMahāyāna.HearrivedinGuangzhouin435viathemaritimeroute,duringtheLiuSong（420-479）.GunabhadraalsotranslatedtheLańkāvatārasūtra,T.XVI670,in443.Thistextcombinestathāgatagarbhaandālayavijñāna,storehouse-consciousness,andwasbasicfortheearlychanschoolinChina.India’ssoutheasterncoastisveryimportantastheplaceoforiginofchanpractices,maybeultimatelyoriginatinginIndia’snorthwesternarea.WhileinAndhratherulersweretolerantŚaivites,theroyalladieswereBuddhists.Thishabitseemstohavecontinuedine.g.Funan.

ToFunan.

ThemaritimeroutefromIndia’seasterncoastledtoFunanduringtheperioduptotheSuidynasty,581A.D..Paramārtha（499-569）wenttoChinaviaFunan.ItisgenerallyacceptedthatFunanisaphoneticrenderingofBnam,OldKhmerfor“Mountain”.Chinesephoneticrenderingsveryoftenhavesomemeaningtoo.Thechoiceofthecharacterswasnotonlydecidedbyadministrativeusage.CertainlyfromthefifthcenturyonSanskritplayedaneverincreasingroleforFunan’selite,butbeforethattimethelanguageseemstohavebeenOldKhmer,thelocalvernacularlanguage.WhiletheplaceoforiginoftheimportedIndianculturewasusingPrakrit（s）,therewasnoobjectiontotheuseofthelocallanguageinFunan.ItseemsthatinitiallyOldKhmerwasrenderedinasouthernChineselanguage（Cantonese?

）.however,steadysanskritizationtookplace,nodoubtinfluencedbythesituationin（Pallava）Indiaitself.

Yijing（635-716）,duringtheTangdynasty,givesthenewphoneticrenderingBanan,i.e.Bnam.HetookthemaritimeroutetoIndiain671andreturnedtoLuoyangin695,atimewhenFunanwasjustavaguememoryinChina.FunanisbelievedtohavebeeninsouthernCambodiaandVietnam,extendingalongtheGulfofThailandtotheMalayPeninsula,toDunxun,alsowrittenDianxun.TheFunanrulerFanManextendedFunan’sinfluencetothatarea,whichisbelievedtobeTenasserim,thenorthernpartoftheIsthmusofKra.Basedonarchaeology,theoracenterofFunanshouldbeplacedinUthong,westcentralThailand.Thebestknown,bestresearchedportcityofFunanwasOc-eo.BoththeMenamandtheMekongbasinsseemtohavebeenpartofFunan.OurpresentknowledgeratherseesthecapitalintheregionofAngkorBorei,insouthernCambodia.OnlyaslateastheTang（618-907）TemuismentionedasthecapitalofFunan.Wedonotknowwhatthesecharactersreallym